World Hippo Day 15 February 2024 – Hippos return to South Australia

World Hippo Day is celebrated annually on 15 February.

I love the hippo. While I was in Berlin this week, I visited the Pygmy Hippo at the Berlin Zoo in Germany, where my love for the hippo began many years before. At the Berlin Zoo, there once was the famous female Nile Hippo called “Bulettte” – which means meatballs. She was born in 1952 in the Leipzig Zoo before soon being transported to the Berlin Zoo. She died in 2005 at the age of 53 – but gave birth to 20 young in her lifetime.

Pygmy Hippos at Berlin Zoo. Photographer Martina Nicolls, February 2024

My Hippo alert team has updated me on the hippo population at the Adelaide Zoo in South Australia, where I grew up.

Poor Brutus the Nile Hippo died on 7 May 2020 at the age of 55 at the Adelaide Zoo (featured photo above). He was originally called Albert when he was born at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney in 1965. When he arrived in Adelaide in 1975, his named changed to Brutus. He arrived with his partner Susie (formally called Victoria). Brutus and Susie had 17 children. Susie died on 20 July 2017.

Brutus the Hippo at Adelaide Zoo. Photographer Martina Nicolls, January 2003

On 8 December 2023, Adelaide Zoo announced the arrival of two Nile Hippos and the “Hip-hip Hooray, Hippos Return to SA” slogan. The two new female Nile Hippos are Brindabella and Pansy, the only surviving relatives of Brutus and Susie. Brindabella and Pansy were both born at Werribee Zoo in Victoria, Australia. Granddaughter Brindabella was born on 9 December 1990 and great-granddaughter Pansy, formerly called Zawadi, was born on 18 November 2013.

Photo from Adelaide Zoo

MARTINA NICOLLS

MartinaNicollsWebsite I Rainy Day Healing I Martinasblogs I Publications I Facebook I Paris Website I Paris blogs I Animal Website I Flower Website I Global Gentlemanliness

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES

Martina Nicolls is an Australian author and international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, and foreign aid audits and evaluations. She lives in Paris.

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog